Hi,

I'm just getting started with electronics and spice. Currently using easy/ngspice on Ubuntu.

I take it spice doesn't come with a default library that contains a basic set of components.

If does does there exist a library that contains the most commonly used diodes, transistors, op amp etc? (Under an open license preferably) Or do I have to download my own from each manufacturer?


Richard

 

Hello Richard,
You pretty much need to find the models on manufacturer sites, and make the symbols up yourself - or use the symbols that came with the software.

I've been using Linear Technology's LTSpice for a number of years - it's freeware, pretty good, and you can run it in Unix under wine. It comes populated with quite a variety of their ICs, and enough transistors, diodes, caps, etc. and examples/tutorials to get you up and going pretty quickly - but of course you'll have to find other manufacturers' models yourself. There is an LTSpice users' group on Yahoo! Groups that is free to join; lots of LTSpice models/symbols available for download there.

Paul Hill's page is handy when you're looking for a particular part:
http://homepages.which.net/~paul.hills/Circuits/Spice/ModelIndex.html
WARNING - the above is a LARGE page!
Searching on Google for "spice model list" will literally get you millions of hits.

 

Well, if you don't supply a model id, yes ng-spice will raise an error. What I didn't see was that it would also substitute in a generic model.